Even at an early age I loved music. I remember listen to Mozart to fall asleep as a child or if my dad had friends over who played guitar I would sit and listen to them for hours. At that time I was not very good at making music though. I never had anyone around enough to teach me. In high school I had several friends who were in bands. I used to sit and listen to them practice and went to their shows. I really wanted to learn the guitar at that time. The only guitar I had at the time was an old acoustic one that was very hard to play. My fingers and hands would get sore very fast. What held me back though was I had no means of learning to play that particular sound I was after. I didn’t even know what it was called. No computer or internet to go on for answers.
Half way through my senior year of high school I moved from the familiar Los Angeles where I grew up to unfamiliar San Diego. The first big step for my music was at that time since we then had internet. I still didn’t know what to look for as far as sound went. I was also pretty busy making a book for my dad’s educational program at the time. A year later when we had family over for a holiday I brought out my guitar for my Uncle Dave to play and hopefully show me something. He came by house and played the guitar the most when I was young so I hoped he could give me a start on learning since at this time I was very eager to play. He did just that…
When he began to play Malaguena something inside me clicked into place. This was the sound I was after! I was ecstatic as he showed me how to play the song and now most importantly I now knew what I was looking for. He is the one who gave me my start and for that I am grateful.
Now I had the internet and something to look up. It did not take me long to stumble on the beginning guitarist best friend…tablature. I practiced like crazy printing out all sorts of songs. I was slowly beginning to grow in my abilities.
For years I would play on and off improving each time I picked up the guitar. I had about 5 guitar lessons from a good Flamenco teacher. He really showed me a lot and helped me expand a great deal. I am Grateful to him as well for all he showed me.
I began going to a local coffee shop on open mic nights to hear others play music. I usually sat outside and played my guitar there never feeling I was good enough to go on stage. More time passed that way with me playing a few months then not playing for a few months. Now I had a new problem, I wanted to record some of m music but had no means to. People were beginning to tell me I am good even though I disagreed with them.
After some time I picked my guitar back up and made a whole new batch of songs. It was around this time I discovered Audacity. I no longer had to use Windows Movie to record music. Yay! The world of audio editing was opened up to me. I began experimenting with Fl Studio free version as well. Doors were beginning to really open up. Being a perfectionist when it comes to my music I soon found out how hard it is to record a perfect song entirely in one take. I ended up with 10 songs and then took a few months off.
The end of my car brought about the beginning of learning to produce my music. The transmission went out on my car so I sold it and bought FL Studio with the money. This was a big turning point for me. I began making non guitar based music at this time. The only thing holding my back from making any sound I wanted was my own abilities.
